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Love hearing stuff like this. Never heard of this guy until now. Thanks.

I was going to say Lars put up some impressive numbers in the low minors, but my memory deceives me. So I also draw a blank coming up with some impressive minor league seasons. Mo Vaughn?

Its pretty telling for a number of reasons. The Sox either dont have good prospects coming through their system, which we know isnt true because of the current core of homegrown players (Pap, Lester, Buchholz, Youkilis, Pedroia, etc) Also to include guys like Hanley.

So what it might be saying is that the Red Sox do a great job at timing their promotions, not letting players be too good for a league and always challenging their prospects. The downside of this is exposing guys who never recover, which I never buy as a real downside (I really only want players who provide their own confidence, no need to have to provide it for them by an organization or coaching staff).

My sense has been that the Sox have primarily pitcher's parks in their system (other than that silliness that was Lancaster for a couple of years). Am I wrong? The Sox have gotten some seasons recently from their minor league pitchers (Papelbon 2004/2005, Lester 2005, Buchholz 2006, Kelly 2009) that appear to be better than any of the best seasons from their top hitting prospects. Is it possible that we are just reading the park effects wrong?

I'm pretty sure both Portland and Pawtucket are hitters' parks in pitchers' leagues. Portland can shift around a lot due to the weather.

I don't think there's any park factor issues. Look at the guys you listed - Papelbon is one of the best relievers in the world, Jon Lester is a Cy Young candidate, and Clay Buchholz won the ERA title last year. I don't think it's a knock on the system that they haven't developed their hitting equivalents. Another key issue is that all of the Red Sox position prospects in the last five years have been up-the-middle types.

Jacoby Ellsbury hit 323/387/423 with 41 SB between AA and AAA. While those aren't mind-blowing numbers, they're excellent for a CF. Dustin Pedroia's 293/385/452 between AA/AAA was very good for a 2B. And Jed Lowrie hit 298/393/503 in the high minors, as a shortstop. A 1B/LF type who put up equivalent numbers, adjusting for position, would have have numbers more in the Lester/Papelbon level of minor league dominance. (Not Buchholz-level though. That guy was awesome.)

I mean, if there was a park factor issue, we'd expect hitters who were unimpressive in Portland or Pawtucket to go on to over-perform elsewhere, or pitchers to under-perform. I'm not really seeing that on any systemic kind of level.

Looking at the MLE line for Hassan, I'm wondering how close that was to Bagwell's 1990 in New Britain. I recall that his MLE would have won him a batting title, or some such, but that his power wasn't as impressive.

How long can the Sox keep Lars at AAA? Is there any limit as long as he is on the 40 man roster? I'm not saying I want the guy hidden away forever or anything but he's only 23 years old. If he just turns out to be a late developer with the power and in 2-3 years is showing he is ready he could still have a very nice big league career.

One interesting thing with Reddick - and maybe with Hassan, if he can keep this up - is that there's a full-time major-league job, a regular lineup spot on a contending club that's available for next year. I expected the RF job would be given to Kalish, as long as he was healthy and didn't suck. Then Kalish injured the labrum of his throwing shoulder. That opens up the job to any outfielder in the system with a good arm.

Reddick is certainly on his way to winning that job, though the Sox could certainly go with a stopgap - maybe even Drew on a one-year deal if that's possible. Hassan would need to keep hitting at this level to work his way into that conversation. He'd also need to improve his defense - the Soxprospects profile says that his glove in the outfield is still a work in progress, though his arm is good.

Does he use an option when he is sent down to start a year in AAA or only after a regular season call up?

I guess what I'm asking is, can the Sox keep him there indefinitely as long as they never call him to MLB and never take him off the 40 man? My rudimentary understanding of the rules is they can. Checking his SoxProspects page they show him having used none of his options.

Does he use an option when he is sent down to start a year in AAA or only after a regular season call up?

An option is used to send a player on the 40-man to the minors, whenever that transaction occurs. In spring, Anderson and everyone else on the 40-man is technically on the major league roster, and must be optioned to the minors before the season starts.

A player can avoid using an option only by remaining on the major league roster for a full season. (This isn't quite right - if you're optioned down for 20 days or fewer, that does not use up an option.)

According to SoxProspects, Anderson was only added to the 40-man roster last September. After being called up, he was not sent down, and so he did not use an option in 2010. He had to be optioned to Pawtucket this spring, so that was his first option.

EDIT: I'm confused about Lars. I thought that you got three years in the organization before you had to be added to the 40-man. Anderson was in the organization for 2007-2009, so shouldn't he have been added to the 40-man before 2010, thus necessitating him to use an option last year? Was Anderson left open for the Rule 5 draft in 2010, or was he protected by some aspect of the rules that I don't know?

One interesting thing with Reddick - and maybe with Hassan, if he can keep this up - is that there's a full-time major-league job, a regular lineup spot on a contending club that's available for next year.

As of right now, there are actually 2 relevant open lineup spots for next year: RF and DH.

As of right now, there are actually 2 relevant open lineup spots for next year: RF and DH.

That's true. Is there anyone in the minors who's really a candidate for that job? I guess if Anderson or Nava went berserk on the league from here on in, they'd have a shot. But that seems unlikely. And more to the point, barring injury, I have to think Big Papi's the DH next year.

EDIT: I'm confused about Lars. I thought that you got three years in the organization before you had to be added to the 40-man. Anderson was in the organization for 2007-2009, so shouldn't he have been added to the 40-man before 2010, thus necessitating him to use an option last year? Was Anderson left open for the Rule 5 draft in 2010, or was he protected by some aspect of the rules that I don't know?

The last CBA added a year. Now, a guy like Anderson who signs at age 18 doesn't have to be protected until the fifth Rule V after they sign. For 19 and older, it's the fourth Rule V.

He might be a distant relative of Dorchester's Childe Hassam. The family came over from England around 1700 as the Harshams, and over the 18th century became Hassams and Hassans. If the accent is on the first syllable, it's the old New England name, which will likely surprise a lot of people.

Montero's hitting .318/.350/.417 (6 BB, 27K) to Lars's .273/.405/.379 (29 BB/35K). That's a lot closer than I thought it would be, but Montero's still a big step above Lars, IMHO.

Montero is certainly still well ahead of Lars, but I just thought it was funny how close their numbers were given that one was seen as MLB-ready to be a great DH this season, and the other is viewed as a bust with no power.

He might be a distant relative of Dorchester's Childe Hassam. The family came over from England around 1700 as the Harshams, and over the 18th century became Hassams and Hassans. If the accent is on the first syllable, it's the old New England name, which will likely surprise a lot of people.

Lived in Quincy and Milton and went to BC High. I would bet he is full on Mick. Another interesting fact is that he was a pitcher at Duke.

Jon Lester had some great stats in the low minors but his numbers in the upper minors were depressed by his recovery from cancer.

He was in the majors when he was diagnosed with cancer and threw fewer than 100 innings in the minors afterward. I don't think anybody really thinks his post cancer minor league numbers are indicative of anything.